Mitsubishi Tanabe buys up NeuroDerm in $1.1B deal

Mitsubishi Tanabe is to spend $1.1 billion on Parkinson’s disease biotech NeuroDerm as it looks to boost its U.S. presence and CNS pipeline.

The deal comes several months after the Japanese drugmaker gained an FDA approval for ALS med Radicava, which got approvals in Asia back in 2015.

For its $1.1 billion, or $39 a share (a 17% premium on Friday’s close), Mitsubishi Tanabe gets its hands on NeuroDerm’s lead product, ND0612, which works as a combination of the two Parkinson’s drugs that control symptoms of the disease by replacing reduced dopamine in the brain.

It’s not been easy sailing for the Israeli company, however. A few years back, it was hit was an FDA clinical hold for the Parkinson’s therapy, but this was later lifted.

ND0612 is currently in late-stage testing, and the biotech believes it could gain U.S. approval by 2019 and reach peak sales of around $1.7 billion.

RELATED: NeuroDerm stock up as FDA lifts hold on its subcutaneously delivered Parkinson's candidate

NeuroDerm said in the brief statement that the deal should close by Q4.

“We believe that this transaction will yield important benefits for NeuroDerm’s shareholders and the Parkinson’s disease patients that urgently need new therapies,” said Oded Lieberman, Ph.D., CEO of NeuroDerm.

Mitsubishi Tanabe "has demonstrated development and commercialization expertise in the field of neurology and we are confident that the combination of their resources and the robust data supporting ND0612, our Phase III Parkinson’s disease product candidate, will help make this important new therapy available as broadly and rapidly as possible.

“The transaction also provides our shareholders with a significant return on their investment in NeuroDerm, reflecting the value that we have created with our pipeline and technologies,” Lieberman said.

As Reuters points out, the deal will be the largest ever purchase of an Israeli firm by a Japanese company.